Dr. Taft earned his V.M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, where he was a small animal and large animal major. He furthered his interests in ophthalmology, small animal internal medicine, and equine medicine & surgery via externships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also spent a summer in Wisconsin under the tutelage of the official veterinarian of the World Dairy Expo, Dr. Rick Halvorson.

Dr. Taft is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association and a certified member of Penn H.I.P., the Hip Improvement Program developed at the University of Pennsylvania for the assessment of hip dysplasia in dogs and cats.

Immediately before veterinary medical school, Dr. Taft was an animal keeper in the Elephant House at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. In addition, for several years, he was a volunteer at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, Va.

After he earned his B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia, Dr. Taft worked at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C. While at the Fed, he studied graduate-level economics at Johns Hopkins University.